creators_name: Zaidel, Dahlia W.
creators_name: Cohen, Jennifer A.
type: journalp
datestamp: 2005-11-12
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:13
metadata_visibility: show
title: The face, beauty, and symmetry: Perceiving asymmetry in beautiful faces
ispublished: pub
subjects: neuro-psy
subjects: evol-psy
subjects: behav-neuro-sci
full_text_status: public
keywords: attractiveness, brain evolution, the face and the brain, functional asymmetry, symmetry, evolution, mate choice, sexual selection, nature of beauty, left-left, right-right,
beauty ratings, hemispheric specialization, faces.  
abstract: The relationship between bilateral facial symmetry and beauty remains to be clarified. Here, straight head-on photographs of “beautiful” faces from the collections of professional modeling agencies were selected. First, beauty ratings were obtained for these faces. Then, the authors created symmetrical left-left and right-right composites of the beautiful faces and asked a new group of subjects to choose the most attractive pair member. “Same” responses were allowed. No difference between the left-left and right-right composites was revealed but significant differences were obtained between “same” and the left-left or right-right. These results show that subjects detected asymmetry in beauty and suggest that very beautiful faces can be functionally asymmetrical.

date: 2005-08
date_type: published
publication: International Journal of Neuroscience
volume: 115
number: 8
publisher: Taylor & Francis
pagerange: 1165-1173
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Zaidel, Dr. Dahlia W. and Cohen, Jennifer A.  (2005) The face, beauty, and symmetry: Perceiving asymmetry in beautiful faces.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/4601/1/Zaidel_%26_Cohen_2005_SENT.pdf